Concers game

In fact, horse chestnut trees were not introduced to this country from the Balkans until towards the end of the 16th century. The game has 2 players, each with their own carefully selected conker which has been drilled to create a hole and threaded onto a piece of string.

To win the game it is important to have the hardest conker! Cheating can be rife — with conkers baked, steeped in vinegar or painted with nail varnish to harden the fruit — but this is frowned upon. If it wins again, it scores a point of one for itself, as the winner, and also takes its opponents score to add to its own. The advent of World War One disrupted the game somewhat, when, rather surprisingly, conkers were called upon to help with the war effort.

In , when autumn came, children were offered money by the Ministry of Supply to collect as many conkers as they could, encouraged through posters in their schools and by the scout movement.

They were not told why, to keep the idea secret from the Germans. The country was short of cordite, needed for artillery, which was normally imported from America. However, shipping blockades had prevented this. Lloyd George asked Professor Weizman later the first President of Israel to find a way of making acetone, needed for the production of cordite. The Professor devised a method using starch, from maize primarily and then when that ran short, horse chestnuts, to produce the acetone required.

Unfortunately, there were problems transporting the vast amounts of conkers collected. Conkers isn't necessarily scored per game. Instead, the conker itself receives a score. That is, if you break a conker that has never been played before, the conker your using becomes a two-er. If you break one that has broken another one once before you break a two-er , yours becomes a three-er.

Essentially, you add up all the previous wins, and add them to the current conker. Part 3. Find a horse chestnut tree. Horse chestnuts are different from the kind roasted at Christmas. In the United States, these type of chestnuts can be referred to as "buckeyes," but they're not the same as the Ohio buckeye trees. Look for green prickly pods. The chestnuts are encased in pods until they ripen.

They split open on their own when they're ripe. Pull the chestnuts out of their casings. You only want the nut to make the conker. Pick the best chestnuts. Chose ones that are even on both sides and that aren't splitting. You'll only need one per person, but it helps to have extras, as the goal of conkers is to break another person's conker. To help you choose the best one, try floating them in water.

If it sinks, it's dense and solid. If it floats, it's damaged, and it will break too easily. Part 4. Find yarn or string. You need string to create the game piece. Choose something that is fairly sturdy. Make a hole in the chestnut.

A small drill bit would work well. Hold the chestnut with pliers to drill it. Go slowly so that you don't crack the nut. If you're a kid trying to make a hole, ask for your parents' help, so you don't hurt yourself. Tie a knot on a piece of string. You don't want the nut to slide off the string.

The string should be at least a foot and a half long. Thread the string through the nut. You can use a needle if you are having trouble pulling the thread through the hole. Tie a knot above the nut, as well. Leave the string on. The string should be long enough to wrap around your hand and hang down.

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. How to play conkers? Each player has a conker hanging on its string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent's conker. If you are the one whose conker is to be hit first, let it hang down from the string which is wrapped round your hand.

The conker is held at the height your opponent chooses and is held perfectly still. Your opponent, the striker, wraps his conker string round his hand just like yours.

He then takes his conker in the other hand and draws it back for the strike. Releasing the conker he swings it down by the string held in the other hand and tries to hit his opponents conker yours with it. If a player drops his conker, or it is knocked out of his hand the other player can shout 'stamps' and jump on it; but should its owner first cry 'no stamps' then the conker, hopefully, remains intact.

Scoring by Steve, a visitor to our website. Thus, in a contest between two fresh conkers, the winner would then have a score of 1 known as a 'one-er'. If it then beat another three one-ers, it would become a four-er.

You won't find this rule for a world championship as it doesn't make sense for a one-day event. But it certainly does at school, where a good conker could go for several seasons or even be passed on to a younger sibling. I remember there being sixty-ers around in my youth but, sadly, have no recollection of ever beating one How to choose a good conker.

Ever wondered why some conkers float in water but most sink? When placed in water, all the conkers that have damage inside them will, due to their lack of density, float to the surface. For children who wish for 'killer' Conkers. Hints on how to make your conkers harder. World Conker Championships.